Every Scene Becomes a Painting

[Please add this story and the author's profile to your collection! I'm working on another story~]

[On temporary hiatus. I'll need to rethink the framework and find inspiration before continuing T_T]

Lan Shi is the legitimate daughter of the Qi Bohou household. Her family has enjoyed the emperor's favor for decades, but that could not stop its gradual decline.

She lives in Yizhou. Her father's branch of the family consists only of her and her elder brother. Her brother passed the civil service examinations and brought glory to the family, but sadly died on his way to take up his post.

To preserve the Hou household's prestige, Lan Shi entered the palace as a consort. Four years passed, and she became an embittered match for the lofty Emperor Zhao Bing.

He once said, "A woman should be gentle. Consort Shi is too forceful. I dislike it."

So for three years, Lan Shi and Zhao Bing were together in name only.

Then she met a rare talent in the palace, the genius painter Meng Ting'an, who became famous as a youth for his painting A Thousand Steeds Beneath Rolling Clouds.

He was humble, upright, and gentle. With his brush, he could depict the vast lands of the realm, but not the sanctuary in his heart. His talent had kept him confined to the imperial palace for ten whole years.

Lan Shi and Meng Ting'an were friends and confidants. Even though she harbored feelings for him that she could never speak aloud, she could only let those feelings begin and stop at the bounds of propriety.

A painting of a night banquet shattered the peace.

The Qi Bohou household was implicated in a treason case from four years earlier. The entire family was imprisoned and exiled.

To keep Lan Shi safe, Meng Ting'an, a painter at the Hanlin Academy, bound himself and confessed, taking all the blame upon himself.

In the end, he was executed at Shuqing Pavilion. All the glory of his life was erased, and behind him remained an unfinished portrait of Lan Shi.

He regretted it too late. To his dying day, he never knew of Lan Shi's deep and abiding love for him.

That winter, Consort Shi passed away, dying in sorrow.

Men aspire to travel far and wide. Women should have great ambitions too.

After being reborn, Lan Shi refused to repeat the mistakes of her previous life. To uncover the truth behind the night banquet and the cause of her brother's death, she disguised herself as a man and entered the court alone.

The old acquaintances were unchanged, and she could not forget the people from her past. She met Meng Ting'an again by Yanchun Pond. The past was gone. At this moment, they were only sovereign and subject.

Everything had changed.

Only her love remained the same. In this life, she was still willing to make her heart beat for him, in exchange for a world without limits.

Reader's Guide:

1. Happy ending, both leads' first time, 1v1. Half plot-driven and half romance.

2. An alternate-history Song dynasty with original elements, so don't expect historical accuracy. Both leads are reborn and secretly in love. Enter with caution if you dislike angst.

Theme: Leave no regrets between past and present lives